1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates generally to supports and more specifically to stands, especially to article support stands and heads with article attaching means. This invention also specifically relates to brackets adaptable to use on tilting heads of stands.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In the photographic arts cameras are frequently mounted on stands such as tripods. A typical tripod head includes a platform and a mounting screw carried in the platform for engagement in the tripod mounting socket provided as a standard feature of most camera bodies. The platform is usually intended to be supported in a horizontal position but may have provision to be tiled along a hinged edge so that the camera is supported in sideways position.
A problem encountered with the use of such a standard camera tripod is that the camera's center of gravity is not always in axial alignment with the mounting screw. Especially when the camera is in sideways position on the tripod, and instability is created and the camera has a tendency to pivot on the mounting screw in a gravity induced tendency to assume the most stable position wherein the center of gravity is directly below the point of suspension. The magnitude of the problem is dependent upon how far from the tripod socket is the center gravity and upon the weight of the camera. A light camera may be stabilized by merely tightening the mounting screw, while a heavy camera requires a more nearly centered mounting socket.
A special problem is created when heavy lenses or flash attachments are used with any camera, since the center of gravity is then shifted regardless of how well balanced the camera was originally designed. This problem has been recognized in U.S. Pat. No. 2,589,892 to Suzukawa, disclosing a camera holder fitting between the camera body and the tripod and offering a selection of substitute tripod mounting sockets in a variety of locations. The Suzukawa solution was thus to anticipate a variety of possible centers of gravity and to provide correspondingly aligned mounting points to the tripod, while the special holder held the camera in a box-like casing. The quality of this solution was directly dependent upon the accuracy with which various actual centers of gravity could be anticipated.
Special purpose mountings for cameras are known, many of which eliminate all possibility of accidental shifts in camera position. However, these require specially designed cameras and camera stands and do not offer any solution to the problem as presented to persons dealing with commercially popular tripods and camera bodies, which are quite standard in mounting apparatus.